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The present invention relates to monitoring of living subjects, and more particularly to health-monitoring of persons where measured or input health data is communicated by a wireless device to and from a software application running on an internet-connected server and where the same may be studied and processed by the software application, a health professional, or the subject.
Several attempts have been made in the past to achieve efficient interactive communication of medical or health information between a subject or patient and a reviewer or provider of that information. In particular, communication of consumer physiological information has been a subject of such attempts. It is noted that in this regard the xe2x80x9creviewer or provider of medical or health informationxe2x80x9d is understood to include not only a physician but also a software application or algorithm that may analyze the information.
Medical or health information has been made available on a CD-ROM accessible by a home computer system. This passive approach had certain disadvantages. First, although the personal computer is prevalent is the United States, it is generally too expensive for a consumer physiological monitoring system and there are many people who find it too complicated to set up and use for that purpose. High-risk, chronically ill patients, responsible for more than half of health care costs in the United States and forming the fastest growing segment of those requiring health care, are indeed the most likely not to be able to afford or use a system built around a personal computer. In addition, such systems are limited in their interactivity to the information stored on the CD.
Previous patents by the Inventor addressed both of these disadvantages, as well as the need to reduce health care costs through providing educational health care information and interactive physiological monitoring in the home environment by means of a user-friendly, interactive system (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,601,435, 6,144,837, and continuations thereof).
These previous patents were based on a video game console, or a multimedia player using a conventional television screen as the display device to achieve a system which is simpler to use than systems based on a personal computer. An initial embodiment of the previous patents utilized a compact disc to provide interactive information for disease management.
Even with the advantages provided, these systems limited the user to location in which the device was located. Even where devices are portable, as in the case of a laptop computer with a modem, an ordinary POTS phone line must be found and used. Where the user""s computer employs a broadband connection, such as DSL or satellite, the choices of location are even more limited.
Attempts have been made to remedy this deficiency. For example, many telemetry systems allow a xe2x80x9cwirelessxe2x80x9d distance to be placed between a health measuring unit and a remote monitoring system. However, such systems are limited in their range.
Other systems have used cellular telephone technology to increase the wireless health monitoring range. However, these systems have several deficiencies, such as requiring significant modification of the mobile phone. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,586, issued Jun. 30, 1998 to Heinonon et al., discloses a method for monitoring the health of a patient. This system uses a specialized connection between the patient health measuring unit and the cellular phone, however. The patient health measuring unit is located in the battery space of the mobile phone and is connected to a communication bus of the mobile phone. Other systems have been proposed, but these suffer from similar deficiencies in that they are not designed to be used with xe2x80x9coff-the-shelfxe2x80x9d wireless devices or health measuring equipment.
The deployment of the above systems also currently lacks employment of full back-end server functionality with which to provide a wide range of interactive communication with the patient. Instead, such systems, if internet-enabled, are often limited to mere one-way non-interactive data transfer via a modem. While some systems are more enhanced, including that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,427, issued Oct. 18, 1994 to Langen, et al., and entitled xe2x80x9cRemote Monitoring of High-Risk Patients using Artificial Intelligencexe2x80x9d, these systems are limited by the wired telecommunications infrastructure.
Embodiments of the present invention overcome one or more of the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a full-feature health-monitoring system that may wirelessly connect to a back-end server application via the internet. The invention allows wireless access to and from a wide variety of present medical or health-related instruments and devices, while maintaining the capability of connecting to future such devices.
In particular, the invention may be embodied in several systems. Two complementary such systems are described herein, although extensions to other such systems can be envisioned. First, an embodiment of the invention may be employed to manage the disease state or condition of a patient. In this embodiment, the patient may employ a health monitoring device (xe2x80x9cHMDxe2x80x9d), in particular a medical device, and a wireless connection provides data from the medical device for processing via the internet including a review by a physician or other health care professional if required.
In the second embodiment, a health or lifestyle management plan may be implemented. Various health parameters, such as those relating to nutrition or exercise, may be entered into a health monitoring device, in this instance termed an xe2x80x9cexercise machinexe2x80x9d, and the same may be wireless communicated to a server. An application may process and store the health parameters, and a health specialist may optionally review the same.
Wireless internet connectivity has many advantages. For example, in the first embodiment, a diabetic could connect a blood glucose meter to an internet-enabled wireless web device (xe2x80x9cWWDxe2x80x9d) away from home and download data to a Diabetes Management Company""s server and, in response, receive guidance displayed on the screen (or by voice) about choices for the next meal.
Alternatively, in the second embodiment, a person interested in tracking an exercise program may take the WWD to the local health club and attach the same to an exercise machine, send data output from various exercise machines over the Internet, and receive a personalized response from the server of a company specializing in Health and Lifestyle Management. The individual may input caloric content of foods eaten, and may further input caloric content of exercise performed. In this way, e.g., a person in a weight-loss program may see in great detail whether they are expending more calories in the form of exercise than the same individual is consuming in the form of food.
In general, in the health management embodiment, the system may be employed to monitor the physiologic status of a healthy subject while eating, exercising, or performing other activities. For clarity, such devices are termed herein xe2x80x9cexercise machinesxe2x80x9d. These may include an electronic body weight scale, a body fat gauge, biofeedback devices, physiotherapy or chiropractic equipment, blood pressure recorders, or the like, or any type of exercise machine or monitor, including a heart rate monitor, treadmill, rowing machine, stepper, or the like.
In more detail, the present invention provides a method and system for assisting patients to manage a disease or maintain healthy lifestyle by collecting health-related data and providing information in response to those data by means of a WWD designed to display interactive information through a connection to the Internet. The present invention may be connected to various HMDs, both medical and exercise-related in nature, and may communicate information via a wireless connection such as a wireless Internet connection.
A major advantage of embodiments of the invention is that the same frees the patient from the constraints of wired systems. The same allows users with consumer xe2x80x9coff-the-shelfxe2x80x9d wireless devices to significantly extend the range of connectivity over that of wired computer, television, or even wireless telemetry systems.
In a first embodiment of the present invention, the WWD is a web-enabled cellular phone. Here it is noted that the term xe2x80x9cwebxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cinternetxe2x80x9d are used interchangeably to refer to the internet in general. In a second embodiment, the WWD is a palm, handheld, or laptop computer, or a PDA, equipped with a wireless modem. In a third embodiment, the WWD may be a hybrid device that combines the functions of a computer, PDA and telephone.
An adaptor is used if necessary to convert the output signal of the medical monitoring device to a suitable input signal for the WWD. The adaptor allows connection of the WWD to a medical device, exercise machine or other variety of health care equipment, and the connection may be made via several techniques. As for wired techniques, a standard parallel bus or serial cable may be used if the input/output ports between the HMD and the WWD are appropriate. Otherwise, a suitable separate adaptor may be employed.
The connection may also be an input such as a disk drive or other media input for input of data, a USB port or phone jack or other such wired input, again employing an adaptor if required.
As for wireless techniques, infrared (IR), microwaves, radio frequency (RF), e.g., Bluetooth(copyright) or 802.11 protocols, optical techniques including lasers, and other such techniques may be used. The patient or subject may also input data manually, such as by a stylus, keypad, synchronization from a PC, or by various other techniques discussed below.
A major advantage of the invention is that by use of an optional adaptor, the system is compatible with current and prior HMDs as well as maintaining a capability of adapting to future such systems.
Other advantages of the invention may include one or more of the following. An embodiment of the invention may be used when a patient is traveling or otherwise away from their xe2x80x9cwiredxe2x80x9d means of communication. The invention allows wireless health-monitoring to the level of accuracy previously achieved only by desktop so-called xe2x80x9cwiredxe2x80x9d computer systems. The invention is protocol-independent.
The interaction between a WWD and a back-end server may provide a major additional advantage in certain embodiments of the invention. In particular, the relatively small amount of memory currently provided on a WWD as compared to a back-end server severely limits the functionality of applications running on the WWD, especially in terms of computing capacity, processing power, and user interface. By providing significant application functionality on the back-end, less memory and processing capabilities become necessary on the WWD (i.e., on the xe2x80x9cfront-endxe2x80x9d). Thus, memory may be used in the WWD for an enhanced user interface or for other purposes, according to the user requirements.
In a method according to an embodiment of the invention, the patient connects to a specific Internet site and a software program, resident on a remote server located on the Internet, downloads an interactive user interface for that patient and an application for the measurement of the physiological data. The software may also be downloaded to the WWD from a personal computer via a synchronization operation in known fashion. The software provides a personalized display for the user and configures the WWD to control and monitor devices connected via a generic input/output port to the WWD. The software may be designed to suit the constraints of the small display screens of WWDs. The software, as well as inputs from the patient or other inputs, can control the manner, content, and display of information presented to the patient, and measured or input data can be stored for review by a health care provider or by a software algorithm or application. The algorithm may be of varying complexity, from a simple program that merely acknowledges receipt of information to an artificial intelligence algorithm, such as an expert system, collaborative filtering system, rules based system, case-based reasoning system, or other such artificial intelligence application.
Further information may be provided to or from the patient, including information entered manually. The patient may input this information via a personal computer, which then may download the input information to the WWD via a synchronization operation using standard protocols, such as those for Palm PDA devices.
The user may also input supplemental information via a PC connected independently to the server via the internet. Such supplemental information may include data that is difficult or inconvenient to input on the WWD. In this way, the patient may be afforded a more convenient environment in which to manipulate data to supplement the data input to the WWD. The deployment of voice processing technology may be used to enable an even more convenient user interface: i.e., one to which patients can talk.
In all of these respects, the portable aspect of the WWD is important: to wit, the user may conveniently carry the WWD on their person wherever they may go, allowing data entry at the time needed.
Other aspects, features, and advantages will be apparent from the summary above, as well as from the description that follows, including the figures and the claims.